MAN ALLEGEDLY SHOOTS HIS WAY INTO EX-WIFE'S HOME, KILLS HER FIANCE THEN TURNS GUN ON SELF

By Kevin Dayhoff

(Hampstead, MD) – Maryland State Police were called to the scene of an apparent murder-suicide in the late-morning hours of Tuesday just outside Hampstead in northern Carroll County that left two men dead.

A 911 call came in to the Carroll County Emergency Operations Center shortly after 11 a.m. “from a woman in the 1200 block of Allview Drive," according to police. "She told the dispatcher that her ex-husband had just come into her home and shot her fiancé before shooting himself.”

When police arrived they found two deceased males in a first-floor family room at the rear of the house, according to Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley.

A subsequent investigation indicates that one of the males, identified as Michael L. Swift III, 45, of the 3600 block of Benson Avenue in Halethorpe, is alleged to have used a shotgun to shoot his way through a sliding glass door in the back of the house.

At that point, police believe that Swift shot Zaidan S. “Steve” Asid, 51, and then turned the gun on himself. A .12-gauge shotgun was still in Swift's possession when police arrived.

The police investigation revealed that the woman who had made the 911 call is apparently Swift's former wife -- and was engaged to Asid. (Investigative Voice will not identify her because she is the victim of domestic violence.)

Police indicate that she was in her residence at the time of the shooting, although no one else besides Asid was there. She was taken for a medical examination but found to be apparently unharmed physically.

The deceased were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for autopsies as the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit spent the rest of the afternoon investigating the scene.

Police said the investigation is ongoing. Check back with Investigative Voice for more details as they develop.